This invention relates to a tossing or throwing game intended either for indoor or outdoor play.
Of course, one of the most popular tossing or pitching games is horseshoe pitching in which two stakes are placed in the ground and the players throw or pitch horseshoes from one stake to the other. However, horseshoes is typically played outside and requires the use of horseshoe pits which, at a minimum, utilize a steel rod firmly driven into the ground. Usually, it is not an easy matter to play horseshoes indoors.
Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,145,840 and 2,326,859, which discloses bowling-type games in which a ball is rolled along the ground, up a ramp into an inclined or horizontal target area having a number of rings or other targets located thereon. Scoring is accomplished by determining the number of points of the various target areas in which the balls land.
U.S. patent 2,050,914 discloses a game board which has a shock mounting feature such that when balls or other projectiles are thrown into the inclined surface thereof, the table will "give", thus absorbing shock. Different target areas are provided on the board which, of course, can account for variations in scoring.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,126,245, 2,287,113, 4,012,042, 4,203,592, and 4,204,682 disclose a number of other tossing or throwing games in the same general field as the present invention. However, many of these other tossing or throwing games require target areas or the like which are either required to be dug into the ground, or which are substantially different in concept and construction from the present invention.
There has been a long-standing need for a tossing or throwing game in which the players can rapidly acquire a minimum level of skill so as to play the game effectively, and yet which offers sufficient mental and physical challenge so as to prevent the players from becoming bored with playing the game.